Improvement in devices for holding blind-slats



UNITED STATES PATENT EEICEa J. A. MOOREARY, OF BROOKLYN, NEXV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT iN DEVICES FOR HOLHNG BLIND-SLATS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 36,960, dutcd Novembtr18, 1862.

To all whom, it may concern;

Be it known that I, JAMES A. McGREArw, of Brooklyn, in the county ofKings and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Device forHolding the Slats of Vindow-Blinds; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspecification, in which- Figure l represents a face view of a windowblind with my improved attachment. Fig. 2 is a horizontatal section ofthe same, taken in the plane indicated by the line :c x, Fig. l.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the twofigures.

This invention consists in the arrangement of a hinged swivel-rod, incombination with a friction-slide and with the Slat-bar and frame of ablind in such a manner that said frictionslide is permitted toaccommodate itself freely to the position of the slat-bar, and the slatsare retained in any position in which they may be brought, and at thesame time the slats can be set to any desired angle by moving theSlat-bar in the ordinary manner.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation with reference to thedrawings.

A represents the frame of a window blind, which is constructed in theordinary manner, and in the side strips of which the tenons t of theslats B have their bearings.

C is the Slat-bar, which is hinged to the several slats by means ofstaples b in the ordinary nianner, and which serves to turn the slats upor down to the desired position. If the slats turn loosely on theirtenons, and they are turned into a horizontal or angular position, theweight oi' the slat-bar causes them to turn on their tenons and theycannot be made to retain the desired position, and if the tenons of theseveral slats work hard in their bearings, so that the slats will retainthe position in which they may be brought, the ex- .posure of the blindto the weather will cause the slats to bind, and they will worl; hard orcause the frame to split.

Thevarious attempts made to overcome these difficulties by theapplication of friction devices have not been quite successful, becausesuch devices have been applied to the wrong place-viz., one of theslatswhereby the whole strain caused by the friction device inoperating` the slats is thrown on one pair ot tenons and on one slat,causing the device to get out of order very easy, or when applied to theslat-bar they have not been successful, because they interfere with thefree motion of the slat-bar, or because the friction created by them isnot sufficient to retain the slats in the desired position, particularlyduring a high wind. These defects are obviated by my device, whichconsists in a slide, c, which is subjected to the action of a spring, d,and which moves up and down in an open metal case, e, similar to awell-known device used for fastening curtains. The case e is rigidlyattached to the Slat-bar, and the spring-slide connects by means ofarod, j', with a staple, g, that is iirnily inserted into the uppercross-bar of the frame. Thelower end of the rodf is inserted into thespring d, so as to turn loosely in the same, and to interpose the leastpossible resist-ance to the lateral motion of the Slat-bar. If it isdesired to open or turn down the slats, the Slat-bar is pulled down inthe ordinary manner, and as the Slat-bar moves down the slide c is drawnup in the case e, and the slatbar and with it the slats are retained inany position in which they may be brought. The case e is secured totheside ofthe slatfbar, so that it does not in any way interfere with theopening and closing of the blind, and by bringing the connection-rodf tothe frame and attaching it to the spring d, so as to form a swivel, theslut-bar is left perfectly free to move laterally or to oscillate ineither direction without causing the slide a to bind and to interferewith the unobstructed adjustment of the slats.

Having thus freely described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The arrangement of the swivel-rod f, in conibination with thespring-slide c, frame A, and Slat-bar C, all constructed and operatingsubstantially as and for the purpose shown and described.

JAMES A. MCCREARY.

Witnesses:

I. W. CooMBs, JAMEs LAIRD.

